"Lost King UCLA Speech Found In Basement Archive"

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We're about to play some words of Martin Luther King that have rarely been heard before.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Almost every American has grown up knowing the cadence of King's voice. You can't watch TV long without seeing that moment in 1963 when he spoke of a dream that this nation will rise up and live out the meaning of its creed.

INSKEEP: Years ago in a used record store, I found a cassette of King's speeches published like a record album, and you can find several such albums on iTunes today. But until now, almost nobody has heard the speech he gave at UCLA in 1965. Cue the tape.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

MARTIN LUTHER KING: I also want to thank you for the support that you've given our struggle in the South and all over this country.

INSKEEP: A recent grad student and his professor found it in a cabinet while gathering tapes of old speeches. And on this Martin Luther King holiday, let's listen to a bit of this talk from April 1965.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

KING: Not only we've come a long, long way, but we have a long, long way to go before the problem of racial injustice is solved. I don't think I have to stay on this point too long. We need only turn on our televisions and open our newspapers and look around in our communities. We know that no section of our country can boast of clean hands in the area of brotherhood.

INSKEEP: Little bit of a rediscovered speech by Martin Luther King which we're hearing, thanks to our friends at KPCC. King spoke at UCLA in California. It was soon after the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, and it was soon before the passage of the Voting Rights Act.